Unlocking the World of Cryptocurrency: A Comprehensive Guide to Launching Your Own Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

There's been lots of confusion about what an initial coin offering is (ICO -- sometimes known as a token generation event, also known as token sales) as well as what organizations can benefit from an ICO could be used to help and what is involved in the process of ICO launching services from the standpoint of a project.

Because blockchain technology is still relatively new, there are no details on the subject (from the perspective of a project), and every new ICO team is discovering the best practices in the right and wrong things to do and avoid doing. Here is a list that includes all the details we gathered on this ICO process and feedback from those who've had firsthand experience with the process.

Pre-Planning

The two most important questions to consider first are:

1. Why is it important? What's the function of this token?
2. Are you sure you're going to conduct an ICO?

Token

• What's the function of this token?
• What role or purpose will it serve?
• Does the token need to be used?
• What are the reasons your project has to have a blockchain platforms?
• Could you elaborate on a feasible economic model to support it?

If your application does not need to be built using blockchain technology, consider the implications before proceeding. For instance, the computational cost associated with developing applications on top of Ethereum is significantly more costly than an alternative similar to AWS. It is crucial to have a solid justification for why you want to create a decentralized application rather than a centralized one.

If your application is built on blockchain technology, it is best to conduct more research and invest more time studying Bitcoin and Ethereum. A decentralized application is quite different from an application built using a client-server architecture, so you must know the fundamentals of a blockchain protocol and the applications that can be built upon the new structure.

ICO

An ICO has a fundamentally different approach from soliciting money via traditional channels like VCs or other methods. On the one hand, you're selling future access to your social media platform (not offering equity). On the other hand, you'll be an open company from day one. There will be a large crowd to manage after the ICO, and you'll need to ensure you can handle this task before the time.

Here are some tips to consider when considering whether your idea should go through an ICO initially:

• Every action you take and your efforts will be included in the token price.
• Your team will be continuously bombarded, many times throughout the day, with queries about the cost and weight of the token.
• You'll have to be an international business from the Start.
• Your team's internal conversations will probably be discussed with the public.
• There will be a lot of anxiety in trying to create things that will be long-term benefits in comparison to—shorter-term worth.
• If the product you are developing is not open source currently, it will experience an enormous backlash to becoming fully open-sourced. There is a massive expectation that a lot of blockchain-related projects are open-sourced.
• Cryptocurrency-related projects are more transparent and public than traditional startups or public companies.
• In general, successful blockchain projects appear and function similarly to open-source software projects as opposed to. Traditional technology businesses. Your team and you will need to decide if your app is suitable to be built on blockchain technology, plus you'd like to operate as an open and transparent business.

Planning

Suppose you're ready and are committed to launching an ICO. In that case, the most crucial elements to consider are the offer, whitepaper, token design, legal safeguards against hacker attacks and preparing for the possibility of communication (website and social media, slack interviews, etc.).

Offering

1. The most important thing to ask is how much you intend to raise. & Why?
2. The most crucial issue is: What do you hope to achieve by using the specific distribution method you choose?

Considerations

• To promote your ICO tokens, Are you looking to raise the most funds? Are you looking to establish an army of support? Are you trying to reach the correct type of users? Are you looking to motivate developers to develop using the best initial coin offering platform? Etc.
• Other issues to consider.
• Allocation -- How much percentage do you give to your employees or partners, retail investors, reserving to the community, or reserving for the foundation/company?
• Where will the funds you raise be used? It is recommended to have a budget for the next five years.
• Do you need to set a limit? If yes, what limit will you establish? It depends on the amount you plan to raise (see the beginning question).
• Are you interested in doing an online pre-sale?
• Based on your fundraising objectives, the pre-sale could be used to provide social proof and a way to distribute tokens to those you want to connect with to your own ecosystem. The disadvantage of a pre-sale is that it can favor certain groups or individuals over other participants who participate in the overall crowd sale.
• If you're doing an auction, you must consider constructing a reservation contract for the sale to ensure a certain amount of allocation for every pre-sale buyer and also be clear regarding who took part in the pre-sale and the price.
• If you choose to sell a pre-sale, you'll also have to determine the percentage of allocations allotted in the presale about the rate you're selling during the crowd sale.

Read More: Understanding The Different Types Of Digital Tokens And Their Application

For An ICO Itself

• Which currencies do you accept? (BTC or ETH, or something else?)
• Are you interested in doing pre-registration? (It's becoming more and more popular for crowd sales and crowd sales to conduct some kind that includes "Know your Customer" (KYC) for those who wish to be a part of the event.)
• Do you wish to complete the KYC process or utilize a service like Civic?
• Based on your objectives, Do you wish to distribute an even number of tokens among all registered users or go with first come, first served? If you go with first come, first served, it is possible to run the risk of having only a tiny amount of people purchasing all of your tokens.
• Will you be offering incentives to those who sign up early? Tiered pricing?
• How long will your service be? (1 day or three days, one week etc.).
• Are you planning to geo-fence? (excluding certain countries from participation, e.g. countries that have been sanctioned -- observing more projects are excluded from both US as well as Chinese investors)
• Are the tokens released immediately after the sale of tokens is over? If not, then when?
• Are you allowing institutional investors and funds to invest, or will you only allow the individual?

It is generally recommended that you create a well-planned and well-crafted offer that includes all of the details provided to anyone who wants to join your ICO. The most problematic are those that hide essential information (for instance. hidden hard caps and needing to be more explicit about token allocation) or projects that alter their terms during fundraising.

Making either of these choices could result in more funds in the short term, but it will significantly damage your reputational capital over time.

Whitepaper

• The whitepaper is where all of the above is combined into one document. The whitepaper should include the entire inner operations that your app uses, including how the system functions and how tokens are used.
• Ideally, your whitepaper should contain complete technical information about your project, including all the information related to tokens and all the pertinent information regarding your team.
• This document should provide potential applicants with a complete description of your application and include enough details to help them make an informed choice.
• White Papers on technical issues are complex and can take up to 200 hours by the entire team over a brief duration. This is also the type of document in which your team needs to be the primary authors of this document. And the central portion of it can't be outsourced. Editors can help tidy it up. However, your team has to write the majority of the document.

After completing your whitepaper, I recommend receiving thorough feedback from the most respected people within the crypto industry and field you work in. The primary demographic you plan to target in the ICO and then incorporate the necessary changes before moving forward.

Legal

• You'll require legal counsel from a credible firm that has handled the incorporation of blockchain foundations and organizations and the administration of ICOs.
• The most crucial legal issue you'll have to determine is whether the legal status of the token you're selling during the ICO is a security.
• What can you do to reduce the fears that the token could be an investment?

Other legal aspects:

• Are you planning to use a SAFT?
• Are you geofencing the offer?
• Are you establishing the foundation to serve as an official steward for the token?

This guide does not contain legal advice. Be sure to consult an attorney who has gone through this procedure before.

Communications

In general, the communication plan for your team should consist of all the channels you'll utilize to share information about your project (website whitepaper, slack social, etc.). All tracks have to work in tandem, and your entire team has to be in sync, and you should be able to respond to messages promptly. It's an enormous task, and here are a few of the essential elements.

A website that includes:

• A page for the crowd sale landing page (separate the main product page if you already have one).
• The majority of well-designed pages perform better in ICOs.
• Whitepaper.
• Team -- Every team member should have a clean and current LinkedIn profile, as potential contributors will conduct thorough research on every individual.
• Advisors -- Every advisor requires an organized and current LinkedIn. Pas potential contributors will investigate each person on the team.
• An indication of a red flag for contributors is if advisors are more numerous than team members.
• Previous retail investors (If there were any).
• Budget -- Could be included in the whitepaper, in a whitepaper or as an additional page on the site. You must be clear on the direction of the money and how long it's estimated to be for.
• Roadmap -- May be included in whitepapers or create a separate page on the web.
• Allocate tokens -- Could be included in whitepapers or as an additional section on your website. It is essential to clarify the products you sell, the conditions of the ICO, and the requirements for sale (if appropriate). At a minimum, prospective contributors should be able to calculate their market cap and know the total supply and circulation.
• Details of the contribution will be announced when the ICO/pre-ICO is complete. (Be cautious, as this section could be compromised, and the contributor's address could be altered to the hacker's address. Refer to below for the "security" subsection below.).
• Links to social media accounts (see the section on social media below).
• Translations (see the section on translations below).

Github

• It would be best to have a tidy, up-to-date Github repository.
• Anything constructed should be placed and posted to a public repository to allow potential contributors to review the entire repository before submitting.Internal channels of communication (Slack and Rocket Chat Riot and more).

• It is essential to have a primary communication channel, and the team should be actively involved in it.
• Hiring an in-house community manager to oversee the channel of communication you select is strongly recommended. The community manager could be an intermediary between the community and your team.
• It is essential to set up the channels correctly and moderate them heavily. Examples of media include Announcements, General, Developers, Random Support, and Scam Alerts (to be able to inform everyone of scams).

The primary channel that teams use is Slack; however, Slack has some significant disadvantages for crypto projects, including the following: 

• Slack is meant for something other than large-scale group communications.
• It's simple to hack into the Slack bot and defraud users. 
• It's accessible to users to message them and then send false announcements and contributions. Learn more about the disadvantages of Slack for cryptocurrency-related projects here.

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BitcoinTalk

Make a bitcoin talk announcement about the token.

Reddit

Please make your subreddit and make it your own, and then put in some posts.

Newsletter

• Create a newsletter for your site.
• The best method is to use email to communicate important information with potential. contributors before the date of the ICO.

Blog

• It is essential to have a clean and up-to-date blog, ideally with a tracker of your blog posts that are already.

Twitter

• It is essential to have a clean and current Twitter account.
• Advertising.
• Will you do paid advertising?
• It's a personal choice that your team must make. The groups that promote appear less shaky.

The Public Relations

• Press: Get into both crypto publications and general news.
• Interviews: Q&A tech talks, speaking engagements etc.
• Events like meetups, conferences, dinners, technical exchanges, online Q&A sessions.
• Podcasts -Podcasts - Epicenter, Unchained, Ether Review, etc.

Translation

• Translations of foreign languages require a real commitment.
• Not only will you have to translate your website and whitepaper, but it is also necessary to translate all changes and announcements in the coming months. You may need to hire someone to handle the translations of Q&A and inquiries via different social media channels.
• If you decide to translate, what languages are you targeting? (Chinese/English appear to be the most popular.)

Read More: Know Everything About Crypto Development Service Provider

Community Management

• It would help if you had additional people to help answer questions: all channels and times.
• If the success of your ICO will be, the higher the crypto community support you'll need.
• In general, you should be active on the internet before your ICO, throughout your ICO, and even following your ICO. Potential investors need to be assured that the team behind your project is serious and committed to last.

Innovative Contract/Blockchain Or Wallets

• What is the blockchain you will be using? ERC20 token?
• It is essential to draft the smart contract ahead of time.
• If you plan to sell, an auction or ICO will require two smart contracts and additional aspects to consider if you're planning to make a reservation agreement.
• Security audit of the intelligent contract: It is essential to conduct this in advance and publish the results. The entire fundraising process is based on this contract. Therefore, it should be 100% accurate. It leaves you open to hacker attacks if it's less than 99% accurate.
• To ensure the project is secure, Some projects now have several parties conduct their audits independently and then publish the individual results.
• Create an opportunity for a bug bounty.
• You must set up the wallet before receiving ICO payments. The most secure options are hardware wallets or multi-sig options for hardware.
• If you are still determining your digital currency, you may require multiple configurations.

General Security Suggestions

This isn't a comprehensive list in any way. If you're concerned, you might need the help of an engineer in security who has experienced the ICO procedure before.

• Buy all of the web domains that look similar to yours, along with all the TLD variations with your name.
• Hackers may attempt to recreate your landing page using an address identical to yours but with their domain name in place of your own. You must be vigilant for any possible scams leading to the ICO or even following the ICO.
• Register all the social media accounts that resemble yours.
• As with an online site, hackers might also attempt to copy and alter your social media profiles and redirect them to another landing page that is not yours. It would help if you were alert for this, even after your crowd sale has ended. One tactic scammers use "extending the duration of your crowd sale" and then tricking potential customers.
• Install Cloudflare on your website's landing page.
• Your website's security is at a security risk. It is essential to set up two-factor authentication to make any modifications to your site and keep an eye on your website for any vulnerabilities.
• Restrict who may update or commit to your github page, social media, and everything else. Set up two-factor authentication for everything, even your internal team.
• Switch off Slack API. Slack isn't designed to be a public group that seeks to raise funds. There are numerous frauds involving direct Slackbot messages that admins cannot disable and that many people are sucked into despite the warnings. Although Slack is the preferred channel for communication, We'd recommend using another way of communicating with the public or, at a minimum, tightly controlling the flow of messages leading up towards the token sale.
• Inform users to Bookmark your website and not click on any links.
• Only divulge your wallets publicly after your ICO (Release simultaneously across all your communication channels at the same time).
• Inform people to refrain from contributing to exchanges such as Coinbase. The contribution must come from a wallet they control (e.g. Metamask).

Before The ICO

• Registration If you're creating a registration system for an ICO, let all the information and let individuals sign up before.
• Create a tutorial on the roster.
• Create a tutorial video and a tutorial blog post about how to take part.
• Create explainer videos to explain how you can purchase tokens. You should have an amateur video of 2 minutes featuring a professional voice. Make it private, and wait to release it until the date of your ICO.
• Be aware of all possible hackers.
• Blog posts on every stage in the procedure.
• Livestream video Q&A.
• Community management x100, get ready to receive lots of questions in the lead-up for the ICO.

Day Of The ICO

• Community management, x1000 get ready. On the day of your ICO and the days that lead up to your ICO, The entire team will have to be available at all hours.
• Be aware of every attack vector close down Slack when necessary.
• Encourage people not to transfer their funds from an exchange. They need to do it through the wallet where they hold their private keys.
• Keep sharing the videos of tutorials you've created on participating. Keep the source of truth to a single site where people can find the information they require to provide.
• Livestream after the conclusion of ICO.

After The ICO

Following the ICO, the two most important questions you'll get are:

1. Where are my coins?
2. Which exchange do you plan to list?

What Are The Tokens We have?

• This is the most frequently asked concern. Please make a video tutorial (for every combination of wallets) and share it on every channel you have.
• You'll have to get back to those who have sent their money through the exchange. The contribution they received is likely gone since they needed to transfer their money from the wallet they control.

Which Exchange Do You Plan To List? When?

• Many Exchanges come with an app form, in case you'd like to be featured on the Start building these connections early.
• In addition, different exchanges will offer your token as available for sale regardless of whether or not you would like to sell it.
• Write a blog post afterwards.
• Provide an update as soon as your ICO is over. The most likely scenario is not even to communicate and appear as if you have taken all the ICO money and fled, be careful to avoid doing this.

The Project Is Running

Communication constantly. If you've got a group of thousands of people (if there is less) who have their own money invested in your venture, You will be constantly bombarded with inquiries. The benefit and drawback of a community that genuinely cares for you are that you are now expected to meet very high standards meet.

Policy On Fiscal Matters

• Fiscal policy refers to the buying and spending on, freezing, discounting or burning. If you keep many tokens in the Treasury and people are wondering what happens when they flood the market. If you pay people in passes that do not vest and they want to sell the tokens. If you pay with locked-up tickets, you must augment the receipts with cash. This requires clear communication to ensure the public knows what's to come.
• Additionally, how tokens will be taxed by the advisors, team members, investors, advisors, etc., should be clarified early. It is essential to consider the compensation plans of employees and advisors as early as possible.
• Furthermore, if large institutional buyers were part of the pre-sale of your product, they could take a considerable chunk of their portfolios based on how you manage the ICO runs. If you decide to allow institutional investors to participate, you have to determine if you'll require lockup periods for the investors or not. The most crucial thing is to be clear regarding what's happening.

Money Policy

The policy of monetary policy is how many tokens you have, how divisible they are, and the inflation or deflation approach you've decided to implement. You must be clear and transparent about the policy you have set and if you choose to modify it.

Financial Management

• After raising your funds via an ICO solution, you'll have to determine how your contributions are paid out in fiat and how much of it remains in crypto tokens(if there is any). It is essential to decide this before you have completed the ICO.
• It is also advisable to start discussions with banks as early as possible to avoid difficulties when you are converting proceeds from the sale into fiat or wired funds to pay for business expenses, taxes, etc.

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Conclusion

The above steps will not ensure an ICO's success, but hopefully, they will provide a better understanding of the entire process from the viewpoint of the project team's owners. Fundraising with an ICO in contrast to. Equity-based fundraising is similar to equity, but they're different. As a group, you need to ensure that selling tokens is the right choice for your business if you launch an ICO incorrectly, and then you'll have to deal with the results for a long duration.